Why I joined the People's Vaccine Day of Action
Izzie is a Just Treatment patient leader
I have been so inspired to see so many people taking action today to demand that Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca share their vaccines with everyone in the world. There have been hundreds of phone calls, thousands of emails and innumerable Tweets targeting these three companies - so many in fact that they’ve disconnected their phone lines and set up separate inboxes!
So what has this day all been about?
Izzie making her phonecall to pfizer
Like so many others, I have been waiting on the news of a vaccine since March with baited breath. It has been almost nine months since I went into isolation to shield from Covid-19. I have cystic fibrosis (CF) which makes me extremely vulnerable. Covid-19 could be incredibly serious for my already damaged lungs, so having the vaccine is essential for me.
And now it’s here - with not one but three vaccines in the last month. With last week seeing the rollout of the Pfizer vaccine starting in the NHS here in the UK, it finally feels like there’s reason to hope. That I may finally get to see my family again.
Whilst this news left me hopeful for the future, there is still a long way to go. Last week it was also announced that 9 out of 10 people in poor countries could miss out on a Covid-19 vaccine, whilst rich countries have enough supply to vaccinate their populations almost three times over.
How can I feel happy about getting this vaccine when I know that others cannot?
That is why today, for the People’s Vaccine Day of Action, we’ve been asking pharmaceutical companies AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna to share their vaccine know-how with other companies, by joining the World Health Organisation’s Covid-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP).
By sharing the patenting rights and knowledge of how to make the vaccine with suppliers globally, big pharma could maximise supply and minimise the price - forever.
I took part in the day of action this morning, calling the AstraZeneca HQ where I had a great chat with someone from the customer contact centre. I followed the script given by Just Treatment and told them what needs to happen. The whole call took less than 5 minutes, they took my phone number and email address and sent my message to their CEO Pascal Soriot, telling him to make his Covid-19 vaccine is a people's vaccine by sharing it through the WHO CTAP.
These phone calls have the chance to make a huge impact if we all work together. We need the CEO’s from big pharma to respond to our request. Everyone deserves and needs access to a covid-19 vaccine, no matter where they live in the world.
I have family living in India who haven't been able to leave their flats and homes since the start of this pandemic. I don’t want to have access to these medications before they do. That is disgusting and unfair. Our lives in the West are not more valuable than the rest of the world.
I have spent years watching people I know die as they cannot get their hands-on lifesaving medication. I am not willing to do it again. We must make sure everyone who needs this vaccine will be able to get it, no matter where in the world they live. That’s why I have been taking action today.
Only when we have a global response to the pandemic will we all be safe. That is why we need a People’s Vaccine.